In April, we worked with Kimia Kasraie to produce an intimate look on her thoughts on art. As a multimedia painter, she incorporates several facets of watercolor, realism, hyper realism, and photography in order to create the amazing pieces she has displayed through the years. You can find out more about Kimia through her website at http://www.kimiastudios.com

Time Lapse Elements
We had a few time lapse sequences we used for the video. During the show, JC and NG attached GoPro Hero3’s onto stands to catch the construction of the tent. Two other shots focus on Kimia’s painting style. It was our first time using our Dynamic Perception Stage Zero Dolly in the field.

On the Dolly, we had a 5d MKii with an 85mm. We wanted to get more of a focused and tighter shot, which is why we used the 85mm. It also felt like an OTS. In post, I found the sequence to be too fast. I should have cut it at half speed, and exposed towards the paper more so. Also, we chose to have a shorter shutter speed. In retrospect, I would have enjoyed a more fluid and slower shutter speed.

On a stationary camera, we had a 60d with a 50mm. Though stationary and simple, it was a great motion to capture. Our shutter speed for this was 1/3″, which I thought was more appropriate since it felt like a slow creation. Really it’s when Kimia adds the accents of color when the painting starts to reach climax.

During the art show, we also used a rising shot of people coming through Kimia’s booth. With the clouds changing every 10 minutes, we had to take into account over exposure on the table. I really like this shot, as we used a slower shutter speed to get a more fluid motion. We used a 5d with a 24 f/1.4.

Lighting
During our time lapse segment, We had two C Stands and we used a rectangular reflector as a scrim for the light. Since we were working with time lapse, we had to carefully monitor the sun moving (we shot between 11am – 2pm). Ultimately, NG did a great job monitoring the light changes in the table.

During our interview section, ND took charge of the light. We used our FNV LED and a Fancier LED (With a warming gel). The fancier was used as a hair light, where as we reflected the FNV LED onto Kimia. Since we were lacking in C Stands, we used a tripod with chairs to get the reflector higher up, and weighed it down with a camera bag.

The Show
NG and JC arrived early to grab some footage of the construction of the booth. Their B Roll coverage was really well focused on the Kimia and her manager. Their close ups of drawings, paintings, and hands really gave it a nice aesthetic.

Overall, the video turned out really nice. First time using extensive time lapse in a piece, and I’m looking forward to using more time lapses in projects to come.

Post production was fairly minimal. Most attention was on the interview portion, it was a sickly yellow color.

For this Time Lapse edition I went out to Davis, Santa Cruz, and Coyote Camera. I finally solved the battery problem, which is buy more Anker 10,000 mAh batteries. I also finished Superman: Secret Origin during this trek. Here’s the actual video for this week:

Shot 1
This was actually two shots blended together. Unfortunately the clouds came in within an hour that I set the camera to fire. The rush of clouds is really cool though. I had my Bower 24mm f/1.4 for this shot. Wanted to try a different lens on my 5D mkii.

Shot 2 & 3
For this day, we drove from the mountains near Milpitas to Manresa state beach. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find a good place for a night time lapse. The mountains were too dangerous to set up (no where to park car safely over night). And Manresa (Santa Cruz area) was too cloudy. Instead we went to the Santa Cruz Beach boardwalk to get the rides moving. I recently saw a Disneyland time lapse, and I thought maybe it’d be cool to do the same for the Boardwalk. We thought it would be hard to slip into the park with bags, but I guess we were lucky.

Shot 2 is a simple BTS. We used a 7D and 11mm-16mm f/2.8 for this show. We forgot to bring an extra tripod, so we propped it up using a Pelican case.

Shot 3 we used 50mm f/1.4. We set it to f/16. We had a slight movement left.

Shot 4
I was actually board last night, and I saw that clouds were coming in. Unfortunately the clouds came sooner than the weather forecast reported. I used a 14mm for this shot with the 5D mkii.

Shot 5 & 6
Both of these shots were at Davis in the arboretum. MC and AA came with me, and we all took a nap. Prior to this shoot I was able to connect my Konova slider with the mx2 controller so it could run an SMS mode. It was a very easy process. I simply snipped the cables, connected the proper lines, and taped them together (though it’s best to solder them).

MX2 + Konova Moter

Shot 5 was taken at one end of the small lake. I set it to .40 per movement, but even this was too slow to complete the slider. I used the 7D with a 11mm-16mm, and let it go.

Checking a shot before setting out for the next location.

Shot 6 was actually on an incline into the water. I found some heavy rocks and put them in a camera bag to hold the dolly in place. As for the pier, I actually brought an LED light and jumped across to accent it (otherwise, it would be nonexistent in the shot).

Though both turned out great, I noticed that the Emotimo tells the dolly to move right when the shot is being fired. Though fine for faster shutter speed shots, it wasn’t exactly ideal for longer exposures. You can see a tinge of blur in shot 6, but I think it kind of adds to the image. This trip was especially fun since I had been wanting to visit my old college town for a while. It was fantastic to go during a no moon, and take advantage of a comfortable, low noise polluted area.

Shot 7, 8, & 9
These were shot during the Perseid Meteor shower. Unfortunately I didn’t catch any meteors on camera. We made the trek to Coyote, California, which is literally 5 minutes away from the southern most part of San Jose. AA kept me company during this shoot, and oddly enough a few teenagers came by the area in the wee hours of the morning (a group even ventured into the mountain).

For shot 7, I had the 7D on the Konova slider with a 24mm. I especially liked this composition because of the framing. With the other two shots, I had some issues with condensation. However the 7D didn’t have that issue at all.

For shot 8, I decided to boost ISO higher than I usually do. I don’t necessarily like getting many stars because of the noise element added to the image. However, I did want to catch a better Milky Way shot. This was shot on the 60D with the 11mm-16mm, at an ISO of 1250. This shot was a little hard to frame because I wasn’t satisfied with any foreground elements. Though I got 450 frames of this shot, less than 300 frames, I found condensation on my lens. I thought I was very gentle about wiping it, but it moved the camera, and ruined the sequence (not that the dew didn’t already).

Shot 9 consisted of the 5D with a 14mm. I simply pull the shot with the Dynamic Perception Dolly. I actually had the Emotimo on the dolly, but I didn’t have the motor with me for solely the dolly. Like shot 8, I had dew build up on the lens as well.

While surfing the web, I came across some anti fog wipes, and some plastic bags for DSLRs, which I plan to get soon. Also, I read that hand warmers are recommended for this problem as well.

The last 2 weeks of shooting was incredibly fun. However, I am taking a break from treks so that I can work on a few videos and update my reel as well as job search. Also, I’m thinking about releasing these videos every month instead of bimonthly. But then again, I really do like sharing everything as fast as I can.

Apologies about not posting a video this month. Mainly it was due to a battery inconsistency. Those who are in the area of buying batteries do not buy the Anker 20,000 mAh (for the Emotimo at least). Unfortunately there are a few spec differences other than capacity between this and the 10,000 mAh model. In short, the battery stops supplying power to the Emotimo after various amounts of time (15’ – 1.5 hours). This basically resulted in sequences amounting to anywhere from 15 frames to 110 frames (of which I need at least 300).

Shot 1
Originally this was a supposed to be a first step to a post blend shot. The shape of the tree intrigued me. The bare limbs held a forbidding mood to it. Unfortunately during the night portion, the battery failed. I only got 15 frames. I plan on getting this shot again after getting more batteries.

Shot 2
Luckily I had a second camera set up looking up at the tree. I originally set up this camera during sun set, and I forgot to stop the iris down to 2.8 . What resulted was a large amount of noise, and a noticeable amount of dead pixels. However, I like how the sky is split into two portions by the tree, almost acting as a transformer of some kind (the right side is light from the neighboring highway).

Shot 3
Again, I suffered from battery errors in this motion. And also I forgot to reset the aperture. Fun fact: at a t stop of 5, there is noticeably less noise between the Canon 5D mkii and 60D. I only wish this motion could have been completed. It starts to get more interesting as the clouds come into frame.

San Antonio Mission Tree

Shot 4
This was taken during a concert coverage I was hired for with Bay Tiger Productions. I thought the blend between day and night using people instead of a large expanse was unique. However, in retrospect I think it would have been better to use a crop sensor with the Tokina 11mm-16mm. That way I could put an ND filter on and use a slower shutter speed for the crowd. Another factor, however, was time (which I didn’t have during the concert).

You can actually check out the video here:

Shot 5
Taken during Independence Day, I was showing some friends some of my Time Lapse toys. I feel like this is fairly standard shot. Clouds are fairly easy to capture since you can gauge your interval and shutter speed by the speed of the clouds. Here, they moved very slowly: I chose a slower interval (normally I would use 3” for faster movie clouds). In the future, I’d like to do longer exposure, and faster intervals for clouds, in order to get a milky feel.

JA actually made this shot. He used different gels on his flash, and we used a 30″ exposure.

Shot 6
Though not the most visually satisfying piece, there is one portion where I get up and do a little motion with my arms. I’d like to do a little animation during a large festival of some sort where I do a similar choreographed action.

Shot 7
This was actually the product of me testing the Anker 10,000 mAh to see if it could last over night powering both the Emotimo and TB3. And by golly it does. I checked after 8 hours and it still held one cell left of power. Though not the most interesting motion (in my opinion due to lack of stars), it was great to see the clouds in a different light.

Shot 8
AA’s residence is always a great spot of test shots because of the darker area where she lives. This actually failed again because of the battery issue. I was only able to get 120 frames, instead of the 400 I wanted. It’s easy to see the difference between this and shot 8 (City vs Rural).

Shot 9
Another great advantage of AA’s residence is being able to use their roof. For those of you who have been following, it is the same roof that you keep seeing. Here I use a 7D instead of a 60D because I had sent it out for repair. So instead of using the Magic Lantern firmware on the 60D, I had to use the MX2 controller.

I had originally set it for an exuberant 1000 frame shot, but only got 200. The reason was because I didn’t account for the long writing period when Noise Reduction mode is enabled in the settings. If you were to activate this setting in the menu, it takes a little over 40” to write the image onto the card, depending on which card speed you use. I don’t recommend it, unless you’re using a longer lens at night. Also, later at night, condensation occurred on my lens, making images past 170 to be blurry.

Shot 10
Word of advice: make sure your shot is in focus. What I ran into trouble here was choosing to focus on the foreground. In the future, I’ll have to mask the image in order to make it focused on both. It was really great however lightly capture the Milky Way.

Shot 11
After a month of failed batteries, it was great to finally have a motion captured in its entirety. Despite the number of cars passing by, I felt this shot was fantastic. It had a great area to use as foreground, and the low light allowed me to keep the shutter open for far less noise. However, in the interest of time, I decided to do a 20” exposure vs 30.” Doing time lapse alone can be lonely. And scary.

Notes:
Big thanks to @ZeekMedia for coming along with me for the San Antonio shoot. Check out his Instagram (Same name). Thanks also for keeping me company when we heard the wolf howls.

Also, big thanks to a few friends – MT, SM, and CW – for inviting me to the Los Gatos shots. It was my first time being in a group of people doing different things. Definitely something I’d like to do again sometime.

Other than advice, some other advice is to always bring some one with you for night shots. During the Los Gatos shoot, at 11:50 PM a man came by and talked to us about doing some model photography. He continued to stay near the location (in the mountains) until near 1 am. Bizarre indeed.

Also, make sure to bring sunscreen and bug spray for your legs. I had a really bad itch on my legs for near a week.

Despite the problems with the battery, I learned more about what to look out for August. I only wish Borrow Lenses rented out time-lapse equipment.

Follow me on Instagram if you want to see my time-lapse travels and comic books @arnelephant.

Shot 1
I actually took this shot in the first week I got the Emotimo TB3 Orange. I miscalculated the interval of 15” – which should have been 45” – and I missed quite a lot of shots. I also stopped the shot too early. I thought the shot was trashed because of the sudden appearance of clouds at 2am. Just goes to show you, let your camera fire.

It was also my first time using the Rokinon 14mm t 3.1 . I can’t stress how great this lens is. Super sharp, and great for the 5D’s full frame sensor. Since the Tokina has an extra protruding part, it can potentially damage the mirror, which is why we opted for a 14mm prime.

Shot 2
This show was taken at Day Dream Nation in San Pedro Square Market. We used to cover the monthly concert series, but it has become more difficult to assemble a crew for the situation. We blended the three bands together for this shot.

Shot 3
On location, it was fairly windy. 15-20 MPH winds. These clouds were moving really fast so I opted for a 3” interval. I used f/16 for a nice starburst look.

Shot 4
This was actually a blend shot. Originally, I the final images were too dark. I instead blended two portions to catch the golden hue coming upon the tree. One of my favorite shots from this venture. The clouds give it a little more dynamic to it as well.

Shot 5
This static shot was meant to capture the moon. Unfortunately, 24mm – in my opinion – is not a good lens for a crop sensor in regards to time lapse. Fantastic in video, useless in time lapse.

Shot 6
Unfortunately my battery ran out of power 1/3 through the shot. Right before the magic hits, the power dies. This is definitely one shot I’m looking forward to capturing next time.

Shot 7
This was my very first blend in post shot. Next time I need more lights to have great impact on the change in light. This was actually during the super moon event and many passerbyers asked me about the emotimo.

A little bit of a week ago, JC and I ventured out to San Francisco with our time lapse gear. So far we’ve done a lot of test shooting in nearby locales, and we decided it was time to start journeying forth for amazing footage. We had a loads of fun for these shots.

Shot 1
This is a static shot that we set up while our Emotimo shot was running nearby. Earlier I had installed the new firmware of Magic Lantern on my 60d, and I neglected to reset all my settings, including SRAW. I ended up shooting it in LJPEG, and I can see why it’s recommended that you don’t. The sky was terribly blown out, and the color was terrible. I had to do some masking on the sky in order to get rid of the overblown sky and bring out the fog. But still, a lot of information was lost.

Regardless, I really liked the slow shutter speed to catch the waves. It makes me want to attempt the same shot in a busier beach, mainly to catch motion of beach goers.

Sitting on this rock

Shot 2 & 3
These two shots were lack luster because of the fog. Without it, we’d have been able to catch the Golden Gate bridge. better luck next time. In retrospect, I think if we had shot further way from the bridge, we could have been able to see it better, at least partially. However, with the 14mm that shot would be extremely wide, and would have left out the scale of magnitude we wanted to capture.

Inception! Time lapse style

Shot 4
JC picked out this amazing shot. Initially we had planned to set up on a rock (the far right rock actually). However, the tide was occasionally coming in. Worried about the 5d, we opted for a 60d and 11mm-16mm initially. But I’d be curious to see the difference in image quality.

I really enjoyed this shot because of the perspective change, the movement of the water and the beach goers. It felt more active in terms of the change in time here.

We had a huge problem because our DP dolly wasn’t moving. I kept trying, and luckily we were able to get the dolly to move. . I connected the battery to the motor and the motor ran fine. However, when connected to the MX2, it emitted a high pitched squeal. I consulted forums and they recommended using the secondary motor input. Lo and behold we were able to get it moving. Strangely enough, this happened to me months before when I had first received the Dolly. I contacted Dynamic Perception. They believed it was a problem with the motor, and they promptly sent me a new one. On a side note, my first battery was defective, and DP also sent me a replacement in a good amount of time. The company has such great customer support, and I strongly recommend buying their equipment especially because of this.

Shot 5
We also placed a GoPro Hero3 on top of the 60d. I love this shot because it shows our hands as we set up the shot. Really cool to see this robotic perspective.

Getting down low.

Inceptionx2. Time lapse of a time lapse of a time lapse.

Shot 6
JC set up this cool shot of the camera rising the panning left. It was great to see the clouds moving in the distance. I only wish there were more clouds on our side to catch. We actually also set up a another shot with a 24mm. However, I made the mistake of incorrectly setting correct exposure in the final shot. It’s important to remember to place your horizon on a third when planning out those compositions.

Shot 7 & 8
The reason why I mention the horizon line is because of shot 7. I forgot to place that horizon on a third. However, I still think the shot is really outstanding because of the dolly movement, the clouds, and the sun. I love it when that glean of light hits the Emotimo and shines. Shot 8 was the same shot as Shot 5. I think for future references, this shot is a must have. I love seeing that perspective of a rising camera.

It was really fun to get these shots down. We actually went to Twin Peaks and another local in Marin County for the Golden Gate bridge. However, it was much too windy, and I wouldn’t want to lose any gear. That’ll be for next time!

May 9
On this day, I travelled to Davis, Ca to enjoy the Whole Earth Festival. Just a little bit of a plug, but if you haven’t gone, this is such a great festival. UC Davis is known for two things: Cows and Picnic Day. But I still think WEF is so much more fun. I brought my 60d for this little run.. I used an ND filter for both shots. Both shots used the Dynamic Perception Stage Zero Dolly.

Shot 1
The first sequence was shot at Wellmen Hall. I’ve taken loads of classes here when I went to UC Davis. I wasn’t really too happy about this show since there’s little foreground in the shot. But I was able to capture the movement of the crowd. Originally, I wanted to go to another location; however, there was a cleaning crew at that location. I used a 24mm f/1.4 for this shot.

It gets hot in Davis!

Shot 2
I really enjoyed this shot. I’ve been wanting to play with subject foregrounds for awhile, but I haven’t been able to get to events with a crowd. I personally posed for this sequence. I used a 24mm f/1.4 .

For both these shots, I used my LCD VF from Cowboy Studio. Though not a Zacuto, using a VF is so useful for day time time lapse.

AA and MC standing in.

May 20
This was taken by San Jose’s HP Pavilion during a Sharks playoff game.

Right Shot
I used a 5d with a 24 f/1.4. Persoanlly, I didn’t like the composition because there wasn’t a good foreground. After the fact, I should have stayed at the corner across the way. However, religious groups had already taken up the corner. I do like seeing the crowd change though. Also, I didn’t take into account the sky in the shot. And with the crowd moving, I’m not sure if an HDR Time Lapse would have been successful.

Left Shot (BTS Camera)
Last minute, I decided to get a bts time lapse running. This was fun to put next to the actual video. I used my 60d with an 11mm-16mm f/2.8, fixed at 11mm. I used the Magic Lantern firmware to run the time lapse

I’m surprised not cops came over.

May 23
I went back up on the roof to try catching the shadows again. Last time I was too late to catch the change in shadows. This time, I was too early. I’m looking forward to doing it again with the Emotimo tb3 at about 5:30 instead of 5:00. For this shot I used 5d with a 24mm f/1.4 (last time I used a 60d with an 11mm-16mm f/2.8).

Deja Vu.

May 28
Just a few days prior, we were able to get our hands on the emotive tb3. First off, Brian and his team are amazing, and the company provides great customer service and feedback. I love checking out instagram and searching #emotimo.

For this shot, I used my 60d with 24 f/1.4. This was only a test sequence to try and sync the dynamic perception with the emotimo. Ideally, I’d love to get a step up motor so I could just used the TB3 settings, and have everything synced. Instead, I set the Mx2 controller and TB3 controls to be synced. Takes a few tries to get them synced. What I recommend is setting the TB3 controls for a longer Lead in time, then sync it with the MX2 controller afterwards.

Though not a great composition, it was great just to see a new perspective for time lapse.

Overall, it was fun getting more time lapse in. With the new TB3, I’m super excited to go to even more locals!

After some odd years and the rise of dubstep, Daft Punk is back. Some may not love the funk and disco sound, but I absolutely love this album. It truly feels like an album where it is an experience from beginning to end. I love singles, but sometimes a good album is just what I need on 2 am drives.

She & Him: “Volume 3″

Took a few drives to get into this album, but if you love the band, you’ll love this new diddy filled CD.

Empire of the Sun: “Walking On A Dream”

I first found out about this band because of Pandora running a Capital Cities station. The Star Wars references is apparent in the album cover, and thankfully caught my eye. Great synth pop album. Strongly recommend!

Once again, via Content Magazine the team and I were able to capture a live performance of a band. However, this time we were able to focus on San Francesca on a more intimate level – we joined them during their tracking session with Damien Wendell in downtown San Jose. This way we were able to capture the band from multiple angles from their multiple takes.

Gear

Canon 5d mkii, 7d, & 60d

11mm-16mm, 35mm, 50mm, 85mm, 105mm

2x Manfroto Monopods

3′ Kenova Slider

“500w” Fancier LED Panel

“500w” bi-color FNV LED Panel

2x “120w” light Panels

H4n

JC stayed on the 5d mkii, NG on the 7d, and myself with the 60d.

We wanted to take what we learned from past Day Dream Nation videos and take it to the next level with this shoot. Since it was in a controlled environment, we were able to get more lighting elements down. We also discovered a new technique involving our slider and tripod.

Lighting

Lighting the scene was a bit of challenge. We first had to figure out how to set up the performers. We felt it best to have them facing towards each other, and lighting around them. We had two keys at about the same intensity and distance. We wanted to light up two band members by themselves. By having two keys at opposite angles, their distance worked to our advantage. While one subject was lit with one key, the other looked more like it was receiving a fill because of the distance between light and subject.

As for hair lights, we put some on top of these PA speakers and pointed them down. Though as the day wore on, those small LEDs died down.

My favorite part of the shoot involved Christmas lights. NG’s shot was tight and focused on the lead singer. Though properly lit, the composition wasn’t balanced. What we did to remedy that was put on Christmas lights in the background in order to create a Bokeh. This turned out great as it really just balanced that important tight shot.

Technique

Most of our technique was similar to the last DDN events. However because we had freedom of multiple takes, we checked shots and moved around with band’s each take of the song.

While I was on 60d, I was very amazed at the tripod/slider setup. With the slider directly mounted on the tripod, I combined the sliding motion with a simply pan. This imitated the look of U-tracks. Such a simple camera movement really makes a shot all that more interesting. But creating it from scaled down approach makes it even more enjoyable.

Also, I timed my movements of the slider/tripod move with each 8 measures of the song. As is common in most pop songs, 8 measures is a good amount of time to go through a verse. Doing this made working in post a lot more intuitive.

Recently, I got to the chance to take my Stage Zero Dolly for a much needed spin. Locations were in Gilroy, Ca and Milpitas, Ca. Since I was using my 60d, I always have to think about the crop factors of 1.6. The Tokina 11mm-16mm works great for crop sensor cameras, especially since it can damage the 5dmk Series’ mirror.

*Note* – When going on roof tops, always bring a partner to watch out for you. Safety should always come first. So lock down, think ahead about how you’re going to get gear up, and make sure parts are assembled before you get up, unless it’s a flat landing. Even then, be careful.

Gear

11mm – 16mm f/2.8

24mm f/1.4

Canon 60d

Stage Zero Dolly

2 x Induro AKB1

May 4th

Shot 1 – 6:15pm – 7:00pm

Camera Settings: 11mm – f/16 – iso 100 – 1/20″

Dynamic Perception Settings: 8″ Interval – 3.15i

Initially I wanted to capture the shadows change over golden over. However, I got there too late, and there was too much shadow on the left side of the composition. Originally, it was supposed to grow. Also, I didn’t like the speed of the shutter speed for this time lapse. Next time, I’d want to try a slower speed, possibly around 1/3”.

In terms of set up, I brought the tripods all the way flat instead of making the tripods upright. It was a windy day so I wanted to reduce movement as much as possible. I just laid them flat and angled the ballheads.

Shot 1

Shot 2 – 7:25 – 8:00

Camera Settings: 11mm – f/16 – iso 100 – 1/20″

Dynamic Perception Settings: 8″ Interval – 3.15i

I made a huge mistake for this shot. I didn’t account for the angle of the roof. I thought that I could save time by using the same motor speed. However, because it is going against gravity, it moves substantially faster.

Also, I didn’t take into account the speed of the sun going down at this point. What resulted was mostly dark exposures. I deleted 40 images simply because there was no detail. Even then, the shots from this run weren’t ideal.

Shot 3 – 11:00 – 11:57 pm

Camera Settings: 24mm – f/4 – iso 500 – 10″

Dynamic Perception Settings: 10″ Interval – 2.06i

Originally, I wanted to get a total time lapse of 90 minutes. It’s suggested that you use this formula:

300 x Interval of Exposure / 60 = Real Time Duration

What I’ve had trouble with is syncing the motor to run a tooth per exposure. What resulted was a slider move too fast.

For this shot, I used a shutter speed of 10” because of the rule of 500, with the crop factor in mind. (500/focal length = maximum shutter speed). This makes it difficult to use lenses larger than 14mm on my 60d, as I’m forced to boost up my iso, making the image noisier.

Another mistake I realized was that by using foreground so close on a cropped lens, I didn’t focus on the stars. What I want to try next time for a time lapse is to pick a foreground further and large for comparison of the time lapse, as well as getting the correct speed.

May 5

After a prior shoot, I noticed that clouds were rolling in. I wanted to take advantage of that movement in the clouds. I waited for golden hour to arrive, and came to a spot I encountered earlier. I’ve been wanting ot get a great shot of these large man made structures, and use them for a time lapse. And the day finally came.

Shot 4 – 6:15 – 6:27pm

Camera Settings: 11mm – f/16 – iso 160 – 1/160″

Dynamic Perception Settings: 3″ Interval – 5.09i

This show was fun to compose since I had both the fence on the left as well as the larger structure. I also used grid marks on my camera to make it easier to set up the comp. I also thought about which way the clouds were moving so that I wouldn’t’ move with the clouds. I’d want to try and move with the clouds next time, just to see that effect.

I’m especially happy about this shot except for one detail.

There is a small dry water mark spot on the lens.

Shot 5 – 6:45 – 7:00pm

Camera Settings: 11mm – f/16 – iso 160 – 1/160″

Dynamic Perception Settings: 3″ Interval – 3.15i

I also wanted to try and get a falling shot with my new dolly. At first it’s a fantastic shot, then a few seconds in, I see the rail.

Whenever I try a movement on the dolly, I always do a video to see that movement. Then I think about what it would look like over time. However, I failed to see that impending rail coming into the bottom of the shot. Regardless, I thought the shot was a fantastic movement, and that next time, I’ll be conscious of getting the rail in the shot.

Over the weekend, it was a bit frustrating getting the numbers right, but practice makes perfect. Until next time, player.

Earlier this year, we had the pleasure of meeting Dream House. Molding elements of Folk Rock and Alternative Country, they are an amazing quartet, unique to the sound of the South Bay Area scene. For your enjoyment, we present you a small behind the scenes of Dream House at San Pedro Square Market.

During this shoot, we luckily had 4 shooters with us. Myself, JC, NG, and JH. As usual with these situations, we had 3 cameras on monopods and on on our Jib. Our technique has been to record songs 2, 3, and 4 and further work with those in post. Again recording from the board using our Fostex FR2 LE. After capturing those three songs, we switch to B Roll mode for a couple songs, for those little nice details to add in the editing stage. However, the set was shorter than our expectations, so we were lucky to get some great steady shots.

As per environment, used two LEDs for backlights, which make the visuals pop out just a bit more. Overall, it was great shoot without any major upsets.